Submission Policy

GENERAL GUIDELINES

  • The draft should exclusively be submitted to IAHS, any manuscript that is already published or sent for publication in any other journal should not be submitted here unless the journal declares rejection.
  • Duplicate and multiple submissions are highly discouraged and will be considered as publication fraud and disciplinary actions will be taken including reporting to Pakistan Medical & Dental Council and Higher Education Commission.
  • Manuscript should be submitted by the corresponding author via online submission system (link)
  • A system-generated acknowledgment will be received by corresponding author following Successful submission 
  • There should be an editable file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files
  • An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org is preferred to be mentioned
  • A duly filled-in author's declaration Proforma is mandatory for submission (To Download the form click here)

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORSHIP (AUTHOR’S CONTRIBUTION)

  • Authors must provide a final list of authors with their contact details such as workplace, telephone/cell numbers and E-mail addresses on the manuscript at the time of submission, ensuring the correct sequence of the names of authors, which will not be considered for any addition, deletion or rearrangement after final submission of the manuscript.
  • The contributions of authors must be mentioned following ICMJE criteria as stated in ICMJE recommendations. (http://www. icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf). The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  • Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  • Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
  • Only six authors are allowed in a single institution / single discipline study. In a multi institution / multi-disciplinary and international collaboration research, Editorial Board shall guide on individual case basis.
  • IAHS strongly discourages gift authorship.
  • Mere supervision, collection of data, statistical analysis and language correction do not grant authorship rights. Ideally all authors should belong to same department of an institute, except for multi-center and multi-specialty studies.
  • As papers are double-blind peer reviewed, the main text file should not include any information that might identify the authors.

SUBMISSION, PROCESSING AND PUBLICATION CHARGES / FEE

There is no publication fee applied on manuscript processing, submission and/or publication

MATERIAL FOR PUBLICATION

The material submitted for publication may be in the form of an Original research (Randomized controlled trial - RCT, Meta-analysis of RCT, Quasi experimental study, Case Control study, Cohort study, Observational Study with statistical support, etc.), a Systematic Review Article, Commentary, a Case Report, Recent Advances, New Techniques, Debates, Adverse Drug Reports, Current Practices, Clinical Practice Article, Short Article, An Audit Report, Evidence Based Report, Short Communication or a Letter to the Editor.

ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Original Article

should normally report original research of relevance to clinical medicine. A manuscript will be considered in the original article category if it is a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) or an Observational Study. RCT should be registered with International

ISRCTN Registry (Trial Registration Number mandatory). https://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ Moreover, Retrospective Studies with adequate sample size supported by appropriate advance statistical analysis may also be considered in this category. Cross-sectional studies must follow the STROBE GUIDELINES Authors should clearly state in the manuscript under separate heading the name of the approval committee, highlighting that legal and ethical approvals were obtained prior to initiation of the research work carried out on subject, and that the experiments were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulation. Also, it is mandatory to provide the institutional ethical review board/committee approval for all research articles, at the time of submission of article. Dissertation/ thesis approval letter from relevant authority is also acceptable. The original paper should be of about 2000-2500 words excluding abstract and references.

It should contain a structured abstract of minimum 200 not exceeding 250 words. 3 to 10 keywords should be given for an original article as per MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/ . There should be no more than three tables or illustrations. The data should be supported with 25 to 30 references, which should include local as well as international references. More than 50% of the references should be from last five years from the date of submission.

 

Clinical Practice Article

These articles are a category under which all simple observational case series are entertained. A manuscript will be considered in this category if it is a Descriptive Case Series or a Retrospective Study. The length of such article should be around 1500 - 1600 words with 15 - 20 references. The rest of the format should be that of an original article.

Evidence Based Report

It must have at least 10 cases and word count of 1000 - 1200 words with 10 - 12 references and not more than 2 tables or illustrations. It should contain a non-structured abstract of about 150

words.

Short Communication

It should be of about 1000 - 1200 words, having a non-structured abstract of about 150 words with two tables or illustrations and not more than 6 references.

Clinical Case Report

It must be of academic and educational value and provide relevance of the disease being reported as unusual. Brief or negative research findings may appear in this section. The word count of case report should be 800 words with a minimum of 3 key words. It should have a non-structured abstract of about 100 - 150 words (case specific) with maximum of 5 - 6 references. Not more than 2 figures and one table shall be accepted.

Systematic Review article

It Should consist of critical overview/analysis of some relatively narrow topic providing background and the recent development with the reference of original literature. It should incorporate author's original work on the same subject. The length of the review article should be of 2500 to 3000 words. It should have non-structured abstract of 150 words with minimum 3 key words.. Prisma Guideline should be considered http://prisma-statement.org/ .

Letter to Editor

It should normally not exceed 400 words, with not more than 5 references and be signed by all the authors-maximum 3 are allowed. Preference is given to those that take up points made in contributions published recently in the journal. Letters may be published with a response from the author of the article being discussed. Discussions beyond the initial letter and response will not be entertained for publication. Letters to the editor may be sent for peer review if they report a scientific data. Editorials are written upon invitation. Audit Reports, Current Practices, Survey Reports and Short Articles should be written in the format of Clinical Practice Article.

Dissertation / Thesis Based Article

An article, based on dissertation, approved by institutional research unit, which was submitted as part of the requirement for a post-graduate program, can be sent for publication. However, provided the data is not more than three years old. A copy of approval letters of synopsis and dissertation obtained must be submitted with the research paper. Approval of synopsis from corresponding institute’s research unit is mandatory.

Dissertation based article should be re-written in accordance with the journal's instructions to the author guidelines. Article shall undergo routine editorial processing including external peer-review based upon which final decision shall be made for publication. Such articles, if approved, shall be published under the disclosure by author that 'it is a Dissertation based article'.

TEXT ORGANIZATION AND FORMATTING GUIDELINES 

  • Authors should submit the manuscript typed in MS Word file and must accompany a cover letter that contain names of all authors in sequence along with their postal and Email addresses, fax and phone numbers and affiliation
  • Sentences should not start with a number or figure.
  • Components of manuscript should be in the following sequence: a title page abstract, key words, text, references, tables (each table, complete with title and footnotes) and legends for illustrations and photo-graphs.
  • The manuscript should be typed in 1.5 line spacing as a single column with 12-point font whereas, the preferable font text is Times new roman. Sub-headings should not be used in any section of the script except in the abstract.
  • In survey and other studies, comments in verbatim should not be stated from a participating group.

Title page

  • The title page should contain:
  • A short running title of less than 50 characters; The title should not contain abbreviations
  • Word count of the manuscript (excluding references and abstract)

Abstract 

Abstract of an original article should be in structured format with the following subheadings:

  1. Objective. ii. Design. iii. Place & duration of study. iv. Methodology. v. Results. vi. Conclusion.

The total word count of abstract should not be more than 250 words. A minimum of 3 to 5 key words as per MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) should be written at the end of abstract. A non-structured abstract should be written as case specific statement for case reports with a minimum of three key words.

Introduction

This section should include the purpose of the article after giving brief literature review strictly related to objective of the study. The rationale for the study or observation should be summarized. Only strictly pertinent references should be cited and the subject should not be extensively reviewed. It is preferable not to cite more than 10 references in this segment. Data, methodology or conclusion from the work being reported should not be presented in this section. It should end with a statement of the study rationale and objective. 

Materials and method

Study design, study setting, study population, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and sampling techniques and size should be mentioned. Obsolete terms such as retrospective studies should not be used. The selection of the observational or experimental subjects (patients or experimental animals, including controls) should be described clearly. and procedures be described in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. References to established methods should be given, including statistical methods. References and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well-known should be provided; only new or substantially modified methods should be described in detail, giving reasons for using them, and evaluating their limitations. All drugs and chemicals used should be identified precisely, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.

Ethical considerations and adherence to ethical guidelines should be mentioned along with IRB unique reference number obtained from the institute and ISCRTN number in case of RCT studies. Publication demanding any other approvals their unique ref number with corresponding institute should be mentioned here

For statistical analysis, the specific test used should be named, preferably with reference for an uncommon test. Exact p-values and 95% confidence interval (CI) limits must be mentioned instead of only stating greater or less than level of significance. All percentages must be accompanied with actual numbers. SPSS output sheet must be attached with manuscript to clarify results (p-values).

Results

These should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. All the data in the tables or illustrations should not be repeated in the text; only important observations should be emphasized or summarized with due statement of demographic details. No opinion should be given in this part of the text. Statistics should be given in an ascending or descendnig order

Discussion 

This section should include author's comment on the results, supported with contemporary references, including arguments and analysis of identical work done by other workers. Study limitations should also be mentioned. A summary is not required

Conclusion 

Conclusion should be provided under separate heading and highlight new aspects arising from the study. It should be in accordance with the objectives. No recommendations are needed under this heading.

Conflict of interest

Any conflict of interest should be declared by all authors. This may include grants or honorarium, credits and promotions, memberships or any personal or professional relationships which may appear to influence the manuscript. Such competing interests are not unethical

but should be declared. If there are no conflict of interests, authors should still include this

heading and write "none to declare." or "Authors declared no conflict of interest".

Disclosure

Nonmonetary disclosures regarding being part of a thesis or dissertation, a pilot project or an ongoing study should be made explicitly at the time of submission

Findings

Any company or institution who has financially contributed to the study must be acknowledged.

Appendices (consent form and/or proformas)

Authors must state that the consent of the patient/guardian was taken prior to the writing of the manuscript if applicable

References 

  • All references must be complete and accurate.
  • List all authors if the total number of authors is six or less and for more than six authors use et al. after six (the term “et al.” should be in italics).
  • Date of access should be provided for online citations.
  • Journal names should be abbreviated according to the Index Medicus/MEDLINE.
  • Punctuation should be properly applied as mentioned in the examples given above.
  • Manual-citation should be avoided.
  • The author must verify the references against the original documents before submitting the article.
  • References must be listed in the Vancouver Style only. All references should be numbered sequentially as superscripted in the text and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section. See below few examples of references listed in the Vancouver Style.

Table charts and graphs

  • Tables should be numbered and cited in the text in sequence using Arabic numerals (i.e. Table 1, Table 2 etc.).
  • Tables larger than one A4 or Letter page in length can be placed at the end of the document text file.
  • Please cite and indicate where the table should appear at the relevant location in the text file so that the table can be added in the correct place during production.
  • Tabular data provided as additional files can be uploaded as an Excel spreadsheet (xls) or comma separated values (.csv).
  • Table titles (max 15 words) should be included above the table, and legends (max 300 words) should be included underneath the table.
  • If using previously published task or chart, obtain permission and provide proper attribution

S.I units

  • Use SI units: Please ensure that all special characters used are embedded in the text, otherwise they will be lost during conversion to PDF

Photographs and figures

  • Photographs, X-rays, CT scans, MRIs and photomicrographs should be sent in a digital format with a minimum resolution of 3.2 megapixels in JPEG/TIFF compression.
  • Photographs must be sharply focused. Most photographs taken with a mobile phone camera do not fulfill the necessary requirements and, therefore, are not acceptable for printing.
  • The background of photographs must be neutral and preferably white.
  • Image size should not exceed 5MBs
  • The photographs submitted must be those originally taken as such by a camera without manipulating them digitally. Scanned photographs must have 300 or more dpi resolution.
  • Figures should be numbered in the order they are first mentioned in the text, and uploaded in this order. Multi-panel figures (those with parts a, b, c, d etc.) should be submitted as a single composite file that contains all parts of the figure.
  • Figures should be uploaded in the correct orientation.
  • Figure titles (max 15 words) and legends (max 300 words) should be provided in the main manuscript, not in the graphic file.
  • ICJME recommend avoiding publication of identifiable photographs or marks, to differentiate patient identity in photograph of face, eye area should be covered and patient’s written consent should be obtained

We accept the following file formats for figures:

  • PDF (suitable for diagrams and/or images)
  • Microsoft Word (suitable for diagrams and/or images, figures must be a single page)
  • PowerPoint (suitable for diagrams and/or images, figures must be a single page)
  • JPEG (suitable for photographic images, less suitable for graphical images)
  • PNG (suitable for images)

Language 

  • Authors are advised to write manuscripts in British English style, in past tense and third person indirect form of narration.
  • Manuscripts containing language inconsistencies will not be published.
  • Authors should seek professional assistance for correction of grammatical, scientific and typographical errors before submission of the revised version of the article for publication

Abbreviation 

Except for units of measurement, abbreviations are discouraged. The first time an abbreviation appears it should be preceded by the words for which it stands, However, the title and abstract must not contain any abbreviations.

Drug names

Brand names of drugs are not permitted. Only generic names of drugs should be used.

Declaration of generative AI/AI-assisted tools in scientific writing:

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

A submitted manuscript must be treated as a confidential document. Editors should not upload a submitted manuscript or any part of it into a generative AI tool as this may violate the authors’ confidentiality and proprietary rights and, where the paper contains personally identifiable information, may breach data privacy rights.

This confidentiality requirement extends to all communication about the manuscript including any notification or decision letters as they may contain confidential information about the manuscript and/or the authors. For this reason, editors should not upload their letters into an AI tool, even if it is just for the purpose of improving language and readability.